In an effort to avoid the First Line, we had to go down along the border, as far from the natural path to Rewill as we could get. Kian had been vague about where we were actually heading, just saying that it was on the other side of Pillago Pass. Once upon a time, Pillago Pass had been in the Barony of the Second Line. My homelands.
Maybe that was why I felt so restless. For the first time in generations, sons of the Second Line would walk on our ancestral soil.
But we had to make it there first. The further north we got, the colder it became, and Kian had given Iker his riding coat. Kian was a large man, bigger and wider than even my cousin, so it managed to wrap right around both Iker and Celis. It didn’t button at the front, but I couldn’t even see Celis now. She was pressed close into his back, like a large growth coming from his spine.
“We’ll have to camp for the night, but I know a place at the base of the Halgates. It’s still a few hours away yet,” Kian called back.
The Halgates were the mountain range that ran above the Ninth Line Barony. Beyond them was nothing but ice plains, from which no one returned. Not even we explored past the ice plains. They weren’t a place for the weak or uninitiated.
I was thankful for the permafrost, though. It was the reason Ozryn had been able to hide in plain sight for so long. Everyone believed that the ice plains began at the edge of the Herelean cliffs, but had begun to thaw along the edges before the SecondLine had ever arrived. They were hard to get to, and no one had ever looked past what they could see—except the Votresses, and the Second Line.
“Tell me about it?”
Startled from my thoughts, I looked down at Avalon. “About what?”
“Your home.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “And how did you know that was what I was thinking about? I could have been thinking about you naked,” I teased.
“Call it a hunch.” She laughed softly. “Besides, riding for a few hours with a hard dick sounds truly uncomfortable.”
I grinned; she wasn’t wrong. Maybe her foresight abilities were beginning to wake. “What do you want to know?”
She shrugged. “Everything.”
So that’s what I told her. Over the next few hours, I told her about how Ozryn had slowly become the size of Eaglehoth, but all the original buildings were made from the granite of the Herelean Cliffs. When the sun hit it just right of a morning, I was surprised that the whole of Ebrus couldn’t see it glow. I told her about the schools and hospitals we had. No one could ever leave, so we worked hard to develop the best doctors and teachers we could from those who were left.
When the time came to be reintegrated into Ebrus, the other Lines wouldn’t find us lacking. It helped that the refugees from the Eleventh and Twelfth Lines had brought their own knowledge with them at varying times.
I told her about the temples of the Votresses, which had been there since before we arrived. Though they were very secretive about just how long that was.
Slowly, Hayle and Vox drifted closer too, walking easily beside our horse, listening to the conversation. Well, Vox was listening, while Hayle was asking as many questions as Avie.
What was the animal life like up there, so close to the ice plains?
How did we keep the horses warm?
Was there any big game?
How did the first settlers not starve to death?
Did we plant forests early to ensure we had enough wood and resources for growth?
Hayle was impulsive, and sometimes more lighthearted than the rest of us, but those questions told me he deserved his role as Heir to the Third Line. They were insightful. And easier to answer than Avalon’s questions. She wanted to know about me. About my family. About friends and lovers, and everyone in between.
“I find it hard to believe you didn’t leave a lover behind in Ozryn,” she argued. “You’re powerful, but more than that, you’re kind.” She smirked. “And you’re very handsome.”
I buried my nose in her throat. “Handsome, you say? Tell me more.”
She squealed, pushing my cold face away. The icy wind had really picked up, and I was hoping we’d stop soon before my nose froze off.
Laughing, I wrapped Avalon tighter to my body. At least the wind was coming from behind us, so my body blocked her from getting too cold. Still, I held her close.
I looked over at Powell and Kian. We’d been prepared for Powell in a way we hadn’t with Celis, and we’d already known we were heading north, so we’d brought him a proper jacket to ward off the cold. Kian looked like he braved these winds every day, which I guess he did.
I still couldn’t see Celis, hidden beneath the jacket around Iker’s shoulders, but judging by the soft sway, I’d say she was asleep. I sent a little trickle of my magic toward her, which confirmed my suspicions.
She’s asleep behind you,I sent to Iker.
